Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. - Investment Services

(312) 930-1000

20 South Wacker Drive

Chicago, Illinois 60606

www.cme.com 

Business Description

We are the largest futures exchange in the United States for the trading of futures contracts and options on futures contracts, often called derivatives, as measured by 2004 annual trading volume. In 2004, our customers, which include our members, traded futures contracts and options on futures contracts with an underlying value of $463 trillion, making us the world’s largest exchange by this measure. We also have the largest futures and options on futures open interest of any exchange in the world. As of December 31, 2004, our open interest record was 28.5 million contracts set on December 9, 2004. Open interest is the number of outstanding contracts at the close of the trading day at the exchange and is a leading indicator of liquidity. Liquidity of markets, or the ability of a market to quickly and efficiently absorb the execution of large purchases or sales, is a key to attracting customers and contributing to a market’s success.

Futures and options on futures provide a way to protect against – and potentially profit from – price changes in financial instruments and physical commodities. Futures contracts are legally binding agreements to buy or sell something in the future, such as livestock or foreign currency. The buyer and seller of a futures contract agree on a price today for a product to be delivered and paid for in the future. Each contract specifies the quantity of the item and the time of delivery or payment.

Our products provide a means for hedging, speculation and asset allocation relating to the risks associated with interest rate sensitive instruments, equity ownership, changes in the value of foreign currency and changes in the prices of commodity products. Our customer base includes professional traders, financial institutions, institutional and individual investors, major corporations, manufacturers, producers, supranational entities and governments.